


Creeper Boyfriend

by Hashtagmavin



Series: Creeper Boy [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Sequel, minecraft au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2014-01-03
Packaged: 2017-12-31 03:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtagmavin/pseuds/Hashtagmavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Creeper Boy."<br/>Gavin tries to adjust to everyday life in Achievement City, while Michael tries to adjust to having a boyfriend raised by creepers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at Hashtagmavin.tumblr.com  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Gavin have started dating, and everything is right in Achievement City. That is, until Gavin’s confusing behavior throws that completely out of the window.  
> Based on a scene in the video "Minecraft Minimations - 2"

Life is pretty good.

I’m living in Achievement City with all of my closest friends, playing games, drinking alcohol, and just having the best time ever. But the best part is that I now have the most perfect boyfriend to top it all off.

Well, I don’t really know if you could call him perfect.

Gavin’s still just as annoying as ever. Doing things like waking me up in the early hours of the morning, screaming made up words at the top of his lungs, and doing things just to annoy all of us. He’s recently learned that pouring lava into Jack’s house is apparently a lot of fun. Luckily the only person to be annoyed by this is Jack, and the rest of us all get a good laugh out of it.

Other than some teasing remarks, my relationship with him has been going really well. I mean, it’s the exact same as before. We both overreact if we think the other is in trouble, we’re still always within a few feet of one another, and he still tackles me with hugs all of the time. The only difference now is that I don’t have to feel guilty or nervous about it. The whole kissing thing is also a big plus.

We’re still in the early stages of a relationship. Where your mind is filled with constant thoughts of them. Whenever Gavin’s standing next to me I always put an arms around his shoulders to hold him closer to me, or interlock my fingers with his. Simple and sweet kisses that mean nothing but everything at the same time. It’s slow and sometimes slightly frustrating, but also comfortable.

But then Gavin started acting weird.

*

After being here with us for two whole months, Griffon’s going back to Slomoville.

Seeing her leave is always pretty depressing because we all love her like a sister. Geoff usually takes it the hardest and spends as much time we her as possible before the leaves (which you wouldn’t think would be possible after seeing how much time he usually spends with her when she’s here.)

But it was a huge change of pace to see Gavin freak out when she said she was leaving. He didn’t want her to leave, and even clutched onto her leg like a small child as if his weight would keep her in one place.

"Gavin, I’m sorry!" she says, guilt evident on her face, "You’ll see me again soon. I’m never apart from these idiots for very long anyways."

Gavin just looks up at her with a crestfallen face, and for a moment I think he’s going to cry.

"Just let her go, Gavin," Geoff rolls his eyes and tries to pry his arms from around her leg, "You’re just making it harder."

"No!" he cries, and tries to hold onto her tighter.

But, of course, Geoff is a lot stronger than him, and soon he’s holding the boy in a straight jacket hold as he fights against him relentlessly.

"Is he going to be okay? Why’s he freaking out like this?" Jack asks, but none of us really know the answer.

I’ve never seen Gavin get so wild. He was totally fine when we left to go home from Griffon all those months ago.

I’m actually really worried about him right now, but I know it’s best not to interfere because he might actually start crying if I assist in holding him back. It hurts my heart to see him so frantic and terrified at the thought of her going back home.

He needs to learn that just because Griffon’s leaving now, doesn’t mean she’s leaving forever. Explaining it to him won’t do any good because we’ve tried to dumb down the sentences in every way possible. Either he doesn’t understand, or he refuses to accept it as the truth.

"You’ll see me again, Gavin," she tries to say to him, but he’s still struggling, "I’m not going away forever."

"Griffon! No!" he yells, still not caring to listen to her reassuring words.

She and Geoff share a look of sorrow at his response, so instead of trying to convince him any further she just presses a kiss to Geoff’s lips, and then another to the top of Gavin’s head.

"Bye, everyone!" she says, forcing a smile, "I’ll see you all again soon!"

I’ve never seen Griffon look so torn. Even as she turns around to leave Achievement City she seems hesitant and nervous to leave Gavin in that state.

"Don’t worry, we can handle him," Geoff reassures her, but it’s obvious he wants her to stay too.

We never want Griffon to leave. There are many advantages to having our little city far away from everybody else, but the biggest disadvantage is Griffon’s home being so distant. Usually when she leaves it’s a little sad, but we always know that it won’t be long until she’s back. Now it’s hurts even more just because of Gavin’s refusal to cooperate.

Even though Griffon was joking about her and Geoff adopting the creeper boy back when they first met, it seems to have come true. Maybe that’s why it hurts a little more, because Gavin considers the two to be like his adoptive parents and he doesn’t want to lose one of them.

Gavin screams out her name again, and Geoff winces at the volume. We watch her leave, and she waves to us one last time before she’s completely gone from our view.

"Should we tie him to a fence post or something until he calms down?" Ray asks sarcastically.

I shoot him a look, “No.”

"I can make him a hole to stay in-" Ryan starts but I cut him off immediately.

“ _No_.” I state once again, turning to glare at him.

Gavin quiets down once he sees that Griffon is gone, and he goes limp in Geoff’s arms.

"You okay, buddy?" Geoff asks in a tone usually reserved for babies or small animals, "It’s gonna be okay. You want a piece of chicken?"

When he lets him go, he expects Gavin to stand up on his own, but he just slumps to the ground in a depressed heap.

We all share a look of concern and pity before I go over to kneel down next to him.

"Gav?" I whisper, resting a hand on his shoulder.

I hear him sniffle a little and when he looks up at me the expression on his face forces me to engulf him into a hug immediately. He allows it to happen, relaxing into my arms and simply pouting unhappily at the recent events.

He doesn’t let out loud agonizing sobs like he did that night I found out about his creeper family, but I can still feel the depression radiating off of him. I press a kiss to his temple which succeeds in making him snuggle into my chest more.

"Think it’ll be like this every time we have to leave Griffon?" Ryan asks.

"I sure as fuck hope not," Geoff scratches the back of his neck while looking down at Gavin and I on the ground, "It’s difficult enough saying bye to her. Watching Gavin get like this just kinda adds to the heartbreak, ya’know?"

Jack smirks, “And you say you’re not fatherly toward Gavin.”

"Shut the hell up," he rolls his eyes and refuses to acknowledge the comment any further.

*

Life continued on after Griffon left.

Eventually Gavin stopped moping around and was back to his old regular self. I’m not sure if my attempts to explain Griffon’s departure by drawing it in fourteen different ways helped or not, but he seemed to be doing better.

I’m still teaching him more English and he seems to be getting better at putting together sentences. It’s reached the point where almost every single inch of space on his walls is covered with our finger paintings and words. I’ve started trying to teach him how to read, but he’s completely uninterested in learning that.

It didn’t take  _that_ long for him to bounce back from his sad state. He was back to being silly and excitable within a day or two, much to the relief of everybody else.

But there was still something slightly off about him.

He was about a week after Griffon left that Gavin was glued to my side a little more than normal. Usually we’re always close to one another anyways. Especially since we’ve started dating I usually have an arm around his shoulders, he’ll be sitting in my lap, or we’ll hold hands every once in a while. Just dumb cute shit that causes everybody else to tease but it fills my head with such a soft warm feeling that I’m willing to put up with it.

But now it’s like he’s kicked that up a notch by twenty percent. Not that I’m complaining, if Gavin wants to be an affectionate little shit then who am I to stop him, right?

We’re sitting in his house, wool dye cans are scattered around us, and our hands are stained with multiple different colors.

"Look," I make a smudge on the wall, "What color is that?"

"Green!"

"Yeah," I nod, "Now what’s this?"

He tilts his head in confusion, and furrows his brow in concentration. “Uh… Pink.”

"No, it’s purple."

His shoulders slump in defeat, and I smile at him.

It’s hard to come up with words to teach him. Usually I have to wait until we’re in a circumstance away from learning where he doesn’t understand what something is.

Like the other day when Geoff told me I needed to teach him colors because it’s getting difficult to ask for certain things during Let’s Play buildings. I hadn’t even realized that I didn’t teach him color names yet, and I still feel like an idiot for it now.

"It’s alright," I snicker, finding it cute how annoyed he is at himself for getting it wrong, "This is your first day learning colors, you’re bound to get  _some_ wrong on your first attempt.”

He looks up at me, his eyes still shining with disappointment, and I smile warmly before giving him a quick peck on the lips. Poor little thing. He’s so used to memorizing all of these things right away. It’s not very often that I have to correct him. He smiles when I pull away, and I know I have to continue to keep his mind off of things that will make him sad.

"Come on," I dip my fingers into a different bucket and then smear the walls with it, "What’s this color?"

Instead of hearing an answer, I feel something nuzzling me. I look down to see Gavin softly rubbing his cheek against the side of my shoulder.

"What the hell?" I lean away from him a little, trying to get him to stop. When he doesn’t I chuckle a little out of amusement, but mainly confusion, "What are you doing?"

He moves away to look at me, his eyes wide with oblivion.

"Gav?" I question.

"Michael?" he responds before leaning back down to continue rubbing his cheek against me like he’s some kind of cat.

"No, stop," I take hold of his shoulders and hold him almost at arms length, "What is that?"

"What?"

"That nuzzling against my shoulder thing. What are you doing?"

It’s apparent that he doesn’t understand the wording of my question, and I feel guilty once I notice the small amount of dissapointment in his eyes. Which sucks because I don’t really understand what’s happening, so I can’t fix it.

"Gavin?" I question again, as though he’ll start explaining.

His shoulders slump a little, but he recovers within a split second. He smiles at me and kisses my cheek before getting up from his place on the floor. “Sleep.”

I’m almost disoriented by his quick change of mood, “Sleep? You want to go to sleep?”

"Yes," he nods, helping me up.

"I don’t know if I really want to leave you alone right now. Are you sure you’re okay?"

He nods slightly, and then pecks me on the lips before going to sit on his bed. “I am good. Sleep, Michael.”

"Okay…" I respond hesitantly, "If you’re sure… Goodnight, Gavin."

"Goodnight, Michael."

I walk to the door and before I leave, I throw out an “I love you!”

But he doesn’t say it back.

*

It’s still really early in the morning when I wake up on my own. This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often, and the only reason it’s happening now is because Geoff and Gavin are out building the new Let’s Play.

But when I walk out of my house I see that they’re back. Geoff is chopping wood into planks across the town from me, and Gavin is behind him.

He seems cheery and content. Maybe he’s forgotten about last night, or has brushed it off. I still don’t really understand what was going on, so I’m happy that he’s back to normal this morning.

"Geoff!" Gavin tries to get his attention.

"Yubba?" Geoff responds lazily, not looking away.

"Geoff!"

"Yubba?" he repeats as he finally looks away from his work and towards Gavin.

He pulls a bone from behind his back, a huge grin on his face as he does so. “You want a bone?”

Geoff’s face breaks out into a grin once he realizes what Gavin’s doing, easily decides to play along, and crouches down eagerly as though he’s a baby wolf. “Oh! I want a bone! I want a bone!” he cries, and then continues to repeat the words in a less coherent a more playful tone each time.

Gavin waves it around and over Geoff’s head, and they continue making those weird baby-talk noises to one another.

And to think that Geoff didn’t want Gavin around when they first met. If any of us brought up how close the two are now, Geoff would still deny it until he was blue in the face though. It’s honestly the cutest thing ever.

"I do! I do!" Geoff cries, and finally Gavin lowers the bone to his reach. He grabs at it and hugs it to his body. They’re both giggling like little children at their impossibly stupid game.

"You’re my trained-Geoff," Gavin states.

He recently learned that in order to get a wolf to be friends and not attack you during the day, you simply have to give them a bone. Of course, he went completely over board with this knowledge and tried to train every single wolf he came across for a few days. We ended up having to sit down with him and have some kind of intervention type thing.

I snicker at their antics, and continue to watch.

"So, uh…" Gavin wracks his brain for the right word for a moment until he finally finds it, "Sit!"

Geoff does so, and I hear Ryan laugh from his spot next to his own house where he’s watching too. Ray and Jack are gone to collect coal, so it’s only the four of us in town right now.

"Good boy," Gavin nods satisfied, "Wait there."

He takes a few steps back as though testing to see that Geoff will stay. When the man doesn’t move, he laughs out loud. Geoff chuckles along with him from the ground.

"You’re free," Gavin points at him, still smiling wide.

"Thank you. Phew!" Geoff says as he gets up, "Thought I was going to be there forever."

Gavin giggles, but his head snaps over to look in my direction when he hears me laugh. Even though he’s already grinning, his entire face brightens up even more at the sight of me. I can’t describe the feeling I get when he looks at me like that. As though just my presence is enough to make his entire day.

"Michael!" he cries, and begins running to me, "Hug!"

This happens often, so I’m prepared when he launches himself at me and wraps his legs and arms around me.

It’s weird to be so happy. It almost feels like it’s unallowed and that I’m breaking some kind of rule. Is this what Geoff feels like all the time when he’s with Griffon? No wonder it’s so hard on him when she leaves. If Gavin ever had to leave I’d probably react the same way Gav did when Griffon left last week.

He presses a quick kiss to my lips then pulls away to exclaim, “Kiss!”

"Okay, okay, asshole!" I hear Geoff call out, "Leave your little boyfriend alone and come help me with this fire wood."

Gavin unravels his limbs from around me but pulls me by the arm when he begins to walk back over to Geoff.

Even though it’s pretty ridiculous, I’m kind of like his trained-Michael.

*

It isn’t very long until everybody was in the middle of Achievement City, standing on the logo, all fully awake and ready for the day.

Geoff’s telling everybody what their little duties are today, when we should be done, and how afterward we can just relax for the rest of the day. We were busy all yesterday doing things, so it’s great to be taking it easy.

It’s nice to start off days like this. Just peaceful and quiet. All thoughts of being worried about Gavin’s behavior last night has drifted away from my mind.

I’m only reminded of it when he begins doing it again.I look at Gavin to see that he’s once again rubbing the side of his head against my shoulder. I quirk an eyebrow but before I can stop him, everybody else seems to notice as well.

"Dude, what the hell?" I hear Ray question while snickering.

"Gavin, quit it," I state, nudging him a little.

He just hisses something in creeper and continues with it.

"I swear, Gavin," I threaten, on the urge of smacking him, "I will punch you in the face."

"What’s he doing?" Jack questions.

I shrug, “I have no idea. He did it last night too, and it’s getting really annoying.”

Ryan’s laughs loudly and I raise an eyebrow at him, while my attention is focused elsewhere, Gavin goes back to nuzzling against me.

"That’s adorable," Ryan laughs, "He’s cheeking you."

"He’s  _what-ing_  me?”

"Cheeking. It’s something creepers do." he explains, thoroughly amused by Gavin’s actions, "When a creeper has a mate they show their love by rubbing the sides of their faces against the other, much like how he’s doing to you."

Although the explanation is ridiculous, it makes an incredible amount of sense. There’s about a beat of silence until everybody bursts into laughter.

They all crack up, making stupid mocking noises at the fact that Gavin’s being so openly affectionate with me. I roll my eyes but their laughter is contagious and even I have to chuckle a little.

I have to admit that I feel a swell of pride at that fact though. Gavin’s showing true affection to me in the best way he knows how. I’m sure he’s been taught all of his life that that’s how you love your partner, and now that he’s doing it to me, it makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

"You guys are dicks," I mutter.

Once their laughter begins to die down, it doesn’t take long for Geoff to jump into slightly serious mode. “All jokes aside, you’ve got to stop him for doing that.”

"Why? What’s the harm?" Ray questions, still finding it highly amusing.

"Because Gavin’s not a creeper. He can’t keep doing these creeper things and thinking that it’s okay. He needs to be doing  _people_  things.”

"He’s right," Ryan points out, "It’s not healthy for him to continue with this creeper behavior."

"Well, how am I supposed to stop him?" I practically growl, and then shove Gavin away from me, "Quit it!"

He looks at me in confusion and then hisses something at me in creeper, and I can tell that it’s to voice his confusion. Without waiting for me to respond, he goes back to nuzzling my shoulder.

"No, Gavin." I state, holding his shoulders and looking him directly in the eye, " _Stop_.”

Everything is quiet as we all wait for his response. I’m expecting him to just hiss at me with annoyance and then go back to cheeking, but instead he just nods slightly and backs away a little.

My eyes widen when I realize that it actually worked this time, and I look up at the others. “That was pretty easy.”

Or so I thought.

*

For the next few weeks Gavin continued trying to cheek me.

It didn’t matter what we were doing. Sometimes it would be during a Let’s Play, while teaching him English, during a chore, etc. Some mornings, instead of waking up to him screaming and pounding on my door, I’d feel him nestled into my side, cheeking my shoulder again.

It’d always end in the same way, me pushing him away and telling him to stop.

Whenever Geoff saw it he’d tell me again that we really need to put a stop to all of Gavin’s creeper behaviors.

I agree with him. Gavin’s aware that he isn’t a creeper anymore, but he still acts like one. It’s pretty damn annoying too.

Sometimes I’ll be out in the woods with one of the guys, and Gavin will jump out and scare us while screaming “ _Boom_!” as though he’s an exploding creeper. He gets very easily distracted by anything within a sixteen block radius of him. He easily forget that creepers don’t automatically trust him anymore, and always hisses at them in an attempt to have a conversation.

And we also discovered that he’s scared of cats. We came along an ocelot one day while exploring the jungle, and Gavin immediately started backing away from it. Any attempts to convince him that it’s okay did not help in anyway.

All of these are traits shared with creepers, which is expected. I mean, he grew up and was taught by creepers his entire life. But now that he’s living with us it has to stop. Not only is it a huge annoyance, but it might end up being a danger one day.

He needs to understand that he isn’t a creeper and that he isn’t living among them anymore.

I’m teaching him English a few weeks later when the familiar feeling of his cheek rubbing against me comes back. I groan to myself before shoving him away. This has gone on for too long, and it’s getting really irritating.

"Gavin." I growl, gripping him by the shoulders and looking him straight in the eye, "Stop. No more cheeking."

"Why?" he finally responds. I feel relieved that he’s stopped ignoring any requests about quitting the bad habit.

"Because cheeking is what  _creepers_  do. You and me?” I release my grip on him to point between us, “We’re  _people_.”

"People no cheeking?"

"No. People do not cheek. That’s just some weird shit creepers do. We aren’t creepers, so you have to stop."

"Oh," his eyebrows furrow together in concentration, and it’s only when I notice how understanding he is that I begin to feel a little guilty for getting so annoyed.

It’s not his fault. He didn’t understand. It’s just been frustrating to keep having to repeat myself over and over again while he just continues to ignore the information.

"Do you understand?" I question, putting an arm around him as though that will somehow ease my guilt.

"I understand," he nods, his voice sounding slightly hesitant.

"Okay, good," I kiss him lightly on the cheek, and when he smiles I know that this whole thing has already blown over.

I decide not to focus anymore on it. Gavin has been acting pretty weird lately, so this isn’t all that strange.

*

Gavin’s dumb made up lingo has already begun to grow on us.

Whenever he doesn’t know the English word or doesn’t know how to pronounce it, he’ll just make up his own.

Like if we have a bunch of belongings, he calls those “gubbins.” Instead of mouth, he’ll say “gob.”

Of course, this leads to me always being very frustrated and annoyed with him while everybody else laughs uncontrollably.

"I found original start point," Ray says, while we’re in the middle of a Let’s Play.

“ _Or-eig-inal_  start point?” Gavin questions, not knowing what the words means.

"Shut up, Gavin. For fucks sakes, I want to punch your fucking head off!" I yell at him, too annoyed with this Let’s Play to take pity on his shitty language skills.

"Michael, Why!?"

"You’re the only one here that doesn’t speak English!" I stop playing in order to scream at him, "It’s just _you_!”

Geoff’s holding his stomach as he laughs from the sidelines, his high pitched giggles makes everybody else join in. Except for me, because I’m still very annoyed at my boyfriend.

Gavin falls down and into the water due to his poor footing and uncontrollable giggling at my anger, and this only succeeds in making Geoff laugh more. “Oh, did you gaff?” he asks, mocking Gavin’s made up words.

"Gaff is a place!" he exclaims while trying to pull himself out of the water.

"You use  _gaff_  for anything!” I yell, then begin mocking him in a bad British accent, “It’s like ‘ _Oh I just did a gaff! Did you see that gaff! Let’s go out and have a gaff_!’”

"No!" he cries

Then Geoff joins in, “ _Oh, he’s gaffed it again_!”

“ _Oh! He’s gaffed it_!”

"You can’t have a gaff!" Gavin tries to defend his word, but I refuse to actually make sense of his stupid made up language.

“ _You_  can do whatever you want because you make shit up as you go along! You don’t fucking speak a real language. You speak Gavin! It sucks!”

"I just won!" Ray calls out, and we all turn to see that he’s at the end.

"God fucking damn it!" I scream, and everybody elses laughter fills the air.

Ray throws roses at all of us in celebration, and everybody cheers jokingly.

"Come on," Geoff grins, "Let’s go back to Achievement City and erect the tower in front of Ray’s shitty house. Then if I’m feeling nice, I’ll allow you guys to have some drinks from my secret stash."

"Dibs on water!" Ray calls out, sarcastically.

While leaving the Let’s Play area, Gavin bounces around me, trying his hardest to tackle me to the ground or wrap his limbs around me. Even though I’m not actually mad at him, it’s fun to see him attempting to get back on my good side.

He’s been a total asshole to me all day, and judging by that grin on his face, he’s extremely proud of that fact.

He jumps onto my back, forcing me to give him a piggy back ride. I roll my eyes but hold onto his legs anyways, figuring that I’ve pretended to be annoyed at him for long enough.

"You’re lucky I love you," I mutter, and he squeals excitedly.

"Aww, Michael!"

“ _Aww, Mi-cool_!” everybody else mocks him.

*

A few days later, Gavin’s odd behavior begins again.

It starts with him coming to my door with an armful of red roses. I quirk an eyebrow at the sight, wondering why he’d go through the trouble of picking so many roses, when I notice the bloody mess his arms and hands are.

Something about seeing Gavin and blood together makes my protective instincts kick into high gear.

I take his arms gently, prying them away so that the flowers drop to the ground. There are a few tiny thorns sticking out of the little wounds that are covering his arms and hands. It’s like he can’t go one day without injuring himself. I swear, he’s going to be the death of me one day.

"Gavin!" I scold, "Are you okay?"

"Yes! I got Michael roses!" he cries happily, but then flinches when I pull a thorn out of his arm.

"Dude, we need to get you patched up. Why the hell would you go pick roses, you bumbling idiot?"

"Owch, Michael!" he cries when I try to take another out. They’re too tiny for my fingers, so I know we’ll need to go over to Ryan’s and let him take them out with tweasers. We’ll probably need a healing potion too so that the cuts won’t get infected.

"Come on," I pull him out of my house so that we can go to Ryan’s.

"But roses!" he cries, trying to fight against me so that he can go back and get them.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I mutter, "We’ll go bring them to Ray later."

Gavin pouts for the rest of the day.

*

About a week after the roses incident, Gavin and I were on iron duty together.

We’re out digging in a cave together with diamond pickaxes, trying to collect as much as we can. It’s not very often that we run out of iron, because we always make sure to have stockpiles of it back in town.

But it’s been a particular slow day in regards to chores/jobs. So Gavin and I opted to just go mining, hoping to maybe come across diamond if we’re lucky.

It’s only when I turn around, because my pickaxe has broken, that I see that I’ve been buried inside that I realize something is wrong.

At first I think that Gavin’s de-mined me, which is this game/trick that he and Geoff play on each other sometimes. But when I look up and see that he’s staring down at me from an opening from the top, I realize that he’s actually just trapped me in a hole.

"Gavin, what the hell?"

"Edgar!" he cries cheerfully.

I’m literally in a hole like Edgar. I’m trapped in a 2x2 hole that is two blocks deep. Gavin’s grinning down at me with a torch in his hands, and although the whole situation is amusing, I’m too annoyed to laugh.

"If you don’t get me out of this hole right now, I am going to skin you alive."

He just throws his head back and laughs, probably not understanding my threats but recognizes my expressions well enough to know that I’m annoyed.

After a few seconds he finally relents and mines all of the cobblestone he’s placed around me. I let out a chuckle when he launches himself at me in a hug.

"Free Michael 2013!" he cries, and that makes me laugh even harder.

After pulling away from the hug, he puckers up his lips, wanting me to kiss him, but instead I just push away his face with my hand.

"Fuck you, you  _trapped me in a hole_ ,” I smirk, “I am not kissing you after you trapped me in a hole.”

He frowns in annoyance, and tries to kiss me himself. I dodge his attempts and he moans unhappily.

"That’s what you get, asshole."

*

The next morning I’m awoken by the familiar pounding on my door.

I’m too used to this kind of thing to be annoyed by it anymore, but I’m still incredibly tired when Gavin bursts through the door without waiting for me to say come in. Still not up to code on manners yet.

"Michael!" he cries happily, bouncing up and door.

I raise an eyebrow when I see that he has two beer bottles in his hand, unopened and the liquid sloshing around as he jumps.

"What the hell are you doing with that?" I question him.

"Here!" he holds them out to me, expecting me to take them, "Bevs!"

Bev is his made up turn for beer because he always forgets how to pronounce beverage. Just hearing him say another one of his stupid words make my annoyance double.

"What…" I take them but only because I fear he’ll drop them and make a mess, "Where did you even get these?"

"Geoff’s house!"

My eyes widen, “You stole Geoff’s beer? Do you  _want_ to die?”

"They’re for you!"

I quirk an eyebrow, “I don’t want beer this early in the morning, are you insane? I’m literally not even out of bed yet.”

His shoulders slump in disappointment at me not wanting his gift. “Michael doesn’t want bevs?” he questions quietly.

"No," I roll my eyes and get out of bed, "Let’s go put these back before Geoff wakes up and kicks your ass."

*

Since Griffon’s favorite pastime and job is carving sculptures out of wood, she often requires a lot of it. Seeing as how Geoff is ‘the best goddamn boyfriend in the world’ (his words, not mine), he always goes out of his way to collect different kinds of woods for her.

Slomoville only has one kind of wood in it’s forest, and that’s oak. But we have many different kinds of forests surrounding Achievement City. In order for her to get different kinds of wood other than oak, she’d have to travel pretty far from home.

Besides being far from us, that’s another disadvantage to her living in Slomoville. Geoff hates when she travels out on her own to get different kinds of wood. Although we all know Griffon can handle herself out there, you never know what could happen. So instead of letting her risk injury and danger, Geoff always has a stockpile of wood for her to take when she leaves.

He’s been planning on going to visit her next month, and staying there for a few weeks. It’s been a long time since it’s just been the two of them and they don’t have to worry about taking care of us brats. Ray made a joke that it’s like we’re giving them a free vacation.

Since he wants to get her some acacia wood, we all offered to go with him. It’s about an hour walk to get to that forest, and we’ll be able to collect more faster with all of us there.

"Why wood?" Gavin questions, watching me chop down a tree with an axe.

He tagged along mainly just because he loves going on ‘adventures’ like this, and we can’t trust him in Achievement City by himself. He’d probably end up pranking us. We’ve entered our houses many times to find that he’s either dumped lava or planted an entire tree in there.

But he still doesn’t know how to properly use weapons or tools. I’ve been busy trying to teach him English, and Jack’s been teaching him how to build houses. He’s already learning enough things at once, I think it’s okay to wait a while until we teach him about weaponry.

I can’t explain to him that we’re here to get wood because of Griffon. We still aren’t sure if he understands that she isn’t gone forever. If we mention her name he might get upset again, and we don’t need to deal with that when we’re out in the middle of the woods.

"Geoff wants to give it to somebody," I inform him, "Like a present."

"Present?"

"Yeah." I shrug, "Something that you give to somebody else to show them how much you care about them, I suppose."

He nods slowly, thinking over the explanation with a thoughtful expression on his face.

After I continue cutting down wood, I see Gavin shuffling around out of the corner of my eye. I don’t bother paying attention to it because he’s probably desperate to do anything rather than stand around and die of boredom.

When I feel him tapping my shoulder I turn around to see that he’s holding out a chuck of wood for me.

"Oh, thanks," I take it and put it with the others.

He scrunches up his face in annoyance, and picks it up again. Handing it to me with more persistence.

"What?" I question, "What’s wrong with the wood?"

"Michael’s!" he states while pointing at it.

"I don’t need wood," I say slowly. Maybe he didn’t really understand my explanation earlier, "We’re getting it for Geoff so that he can give it to Gr- Uh, somebody."

Gavin sighs and rolls his eyes, obviously frustrated. I assume it’s because he wasn’t able to understand my explanation on the first try. I snicker before dropping the wood back into the pile, and then affectionately ruffle his hair.

"Don’t worry, buddy," I smile at him, "You’ll get the hang of it eventually."

*

Instead of waking up to the sound of my boyfriend running into my house like a wild maniac, instead it’s the sound of screaming.

I sit up in my bed, immediately awake and alert once I recognize the voice as Gavin’s.

"No!" he’s screeching and the top of his lungs, "Stop!"

I throw the blankets off of me and run out of my house, not even thinking clearly enough to take my diamond sword in case Gavin’s in serious trouble.

But instead of seeing him being attacked by a zombie or something of the sort, I see Jack roughly dragging Gavin towards Kung-Fu house. He’s struggling against him, trying his hardest to fight back and escape his grasp.

"No! I don’t want to be Edgar! Stop! Let go!" he continues to cry out. When he catches sight of me he goes even crazier, "Michael! Help!"

"What the fuck is going on!?" I shout as I run over to them.

Jack releases Gavin and the boy falls from his arms. He runs into my arms immediately, still whining pitifully.

I look up to glare at Jack, his intentions still unknown. Although I think of him like a big brother and I trust him with my life, it’s kind of suspicious when you’re awoken to the sound of your boyfriends screaming as he’s being forcefully dragged around town.

Jack puts up his hands in mock surrender, “I wasn’t actually going to put him in Edgar’s hole, I swear. No need to go Mogar on me.”

"What happened?"

"I woke up to find him trying to steal diamond from my house." Jack explains, but there’s no hint of annoyance in his eyes.

"Stealing? You were stealing?" I glare at him, his eyes widen in panic.

"No!" he shakes his head quickly.

"What the hell did you need diamond for?" I question. We have plenty of diamond tools and armor, so if he needed something he could have just taken that. Plus he doesn’t even know how to craft things on his own.

"Diamond for Michael!"

I groan, realizing that this is another one of his stupid attempts to give me pointless and unneeded gifts.

"I don’t want diamond! Why are you constantly trying to give me things?"

He pouts unhappily before removing his arms from around me. Before I can grab his arm he jumps away from me. I call out after him as he sprints to his house, not giving us any reason as to why he was stealing from Jack’s.

"You gonna go see if he’s okay?"

"Nah," I shrug, "It’s still early. He’ll be over it by the time I wake up again."

He wasn’t.

*

This time instead of waking up to Gavin’s screaming or excitable morning attitude, I’m awoken by Geoff stomping into my house with a murderous look on his face.

“What did you do to Gavin?” he demands.

My eyes widen in fear and I think for a moment that he might pull a diamond sword from behind his back and attack me. “What!? Nothing!” I jump up from my seat when I register his question, “Wait, why? Is something wrong with him!?”

"He won’t stop moping around! It’s fucking depressing. He won’t talk to me. He’s just ignoring everyone and refusing to leave his house."

"What!? Why!?"

"How the fuck should I know!? That’s why I came here to ask you! So go fucking fix the kid before I shove a pickaxe up your ass!"

"And you say you don’t care about him,” I mutter.

"Just go fix you’re boyfriend, dickweed." Geoff states before he leaves, slamming the door shut behind him.

He and Gavin have been hanging out a lot lately. Every second that he isn’t spending with me, he’s spending it with Geoff. Following him around, helping him, and saying dumb jokes to make him laugh. I don’t know how he’s done it, but it’s almost like Gavin wormed his way into Geoff’s heart.

Not like that’s a difficult thing to do, but it seemed pretty unlikely when the two first met.

So it’s weird that he’s spending the day inside of his house, ignoring Geoff when normally he’d jump at the chance to hang out with him.

Is he really upset from this morning? Nobody actually got mad at him. All I did was ask him if he was stealing diamond. Gavin never gets upset over somebody yelling at him. I’ve yelled at him  _way_  louder and harsher before, and he’s always just laughed it off.

I feel guilty just at the thought of doing something that’s upset my boy. But as much as I wrack my brain I can’t think of anything that I’ve done wrong. I’ve been treating him the same way as I always do.

There’s no denying that Gavin’s been acting really weird lately. His odd behavior is really starting to piss me off. Is this some kind of creeper thing that I’m not aware of? Who knew having a boyfriend raised by creepers could be so much work.

Obviously Gavin is upset by something, and it’s up to me to fix it. As much as I’d like to deny it, he’s worth the trouble.

I promised myself all those months ago that I’d never let him frown again. That he’d never have a reason to be sad or upset. I’m pretty shitty at keeping my promises apparently, even though I have no idea what I’ve done to break it.

Something is up, and I know if I go to him to find out, nothing good will come of it. I need to go to a better source of information. One that actually knows English and has an extensive knowledge on pretty much everything.

*

"Ryan!" I demand as I stomp into his house, throwing the door open so harshly that it’s slams into the door.

He raises an eyebrow as he stares up at me from behind his book, “Come in?”

I completely ignore any thought to be polite, “You know a lot of shit about creepers, right?”

"I know a lot of shit about everything."

I roll my eyes, “Then help me! What the hell is going on with Gavin and how the fuck do I make him stop?”

He sighs and closes his book, almost as though he was expecting me to come asking him this, “I have a theory.”

"Which is?"

Ryan’s the smartest in Achievement City. We all have our negatives and positives, and his biggest positive is his brain. The negative is the fact that’s he’s incredibly creepy at times and buries woodland creatures into holes in his spare time. Even as I’m standing in his house I’m trying to avoid stepping onto the glass floor containing Edgar and not make any eye contact with his prison. But I think of him just as much as a big brother as I do Jack and Geoff.

It’s no surprise that he already has theories on Gavin’s behavior, and I’d have to be a fool to not believe them.

"The whole cheeking thing. That’s just how creepers work. That’s how they show affection. It represents that they want to stay together and not go on to find a different mate. But if they do it and the other creeper rejects them, then that means they aren’t interested in them romantically. So when you told Gavin to stop, I assume he became worried that you weren’t interested in him anymore."

"But I am!"

"I know, but then you told him that cheeking is a creeper thing. That he couldn’t do it because you and he aren’t creepers. So he was probably desperate to find the human equivalent to that before you lost interest in him entirely."

Realization and guilt begins to creep up my spine.

Goddammit.

I fucked up.

"…So all of the gifts and stuff?"

He sighs once again, and this whole situation reminds me of how smart Ryan really is. He’s the best at observing things and I was right to come to him for advice.

"You have to understand that Gavin’s never been around people before us. He was raised to act and be like a creeper."

"But why would he be doing those things? How is that equivilant to creeper-cheeking?"

"He doesn’t know normal human customs, so when he sees us doing dumb affectionate things for one another, he doesn’t understand that it’s just a joke. Ray showers us with roses when there’s a game win, Geoff shares his beer when he’s feeling generous, he collects wood to bring to Griffon, and I bury shit in holes. It’s just how we operate around here."

"So me rejecting all of that and getting annoyed at him?"

"Probably makes him think you don’t like him anymore."

"Well, fuck."

*

"Hey, Gavvy?" I knock on his door loudly.

After leaving Ryan’s I bolted straight over here to Gavin’s house. No wonder he’s been so quiet and timid lately. I’ve brushed off every single attempt to confirm our relationship and now he thinks I hate him.

I’m probably the biggest idiot in the world. When one dates a boy that was raised by creepers, there should be a handbook given to you or something. It would sure make things a hell of a lot easier.

There’s no response, which isn’t exactly a good sign. I close my eyes and rest my head against the door before finally just walking in.

Gavin’s sitting on his bed, his arms wrapped around his knees that are pulled to his chest, and his back leaning against the wall. He looks up as I enter, but as soon as he meets my gaze he looks away with red cheeks.

"Hi, Gavin," I close the door, wincing a little when it shuts too hard.

His shoulders just slump a little more, and he becomes very intrigued by a spot on the floor. Much preferring to look at that than me.

"Can I talk to you?" I ask quietly, sitting on the corner of his bed.

He nods a little, and the look on his face seems to feed the guilt that’s eating me alive. It’s quiet for a few moments, and I know I should talk but I’m too busy trying to figure out what’s going on through Gavin’s head. Does he really think I don’t want him anymore?

"Gavin, you know I love you, right?"

He finally looks me in the eyes, but they shine bright with disbelief and heart break. I can’t take it anymore and scoop him up in my arms, he doesn’t fight against it much, and just relaxes his head against my chest. He’s so feeble, as though this doubt is actually affecting his health in some way.

I kiss the top of his head, “Because I do. I love you, Gavin.”

It sucks having to actually remind him. I don’t like the fact that he no longer believes me when I say it.

“ _I_  love  _you_ ,” he moves away from my chest to look me in the eyes.

"I know you do. We both love each other, right?"

"No."

I sigh, “Gavin, you have to believe me. I didn’t know what you were doing.”

That apparently does not succeed in reassuring him. He starts hissing in creeper, and I don’t bother to correct him to say that I don’t understand. I just let him get it all out before he eventually switches back to English.

"-Michael hate cheeking. Michael hate roses. Michael hate wood. Michael hate bevs. Michael hate diamond. Michael hate all!" he cries, looking down and away from me once again.

"Shhh," I try to soothe him, feeling like I’m currently taking care of a small child instead of my boyfriend, "It’s okay."

"No! Not okay!" he shakes his head, "I want Michael to stay! Stay with Gavin!"

"I’m not going anywhere," I reassure, trying to pull him closer to me, but he fights against my grip so that he can look me in the eyes. I can see the desperation within them.

"Griffon’s gone!" he cries out, his face scrunching up in pain, "She’s gone and Geoff’s alone! I don’t want Michael gone."

Then it’s all pieced together.

That’s why Gavin was so upset about Griffon leaving. We were right about him thinking she was never coming back, but he was also scared that she left because she didn’t like us anymore.

He thought she wasn’t happy with Geoff and the rest of us, and so she decided to go on to find a new partner.

That’s why he’s been hanging out with Geoff so much, because he thinks he’s totally heartbroken over Griffon’s departure.

That’s why he was so desperate to prove his love to me, because he didn’t want me to go away like Griffon and leave him all alone.

And that’s why he’s so distressed now, because he thinks my ‘rejection’ of his gifts was my refusal to continue seeing him.

I feel like such an ass.

"Shh," I whisper again. When I see his eyes watering I pull him close to me so that I can bury my face into his hair, "Nobody left I’m not going to leave. Everything is okay, I promise."

"Griffon?"

I suppose all of that explaining I did to him before was useless. He was so set on thinking that Griffon was leaving forever that he just completely disregarded any explanation telling him otherwise.

"She’s gone home. She’s going to come back to visit. Maybe we’ll even go visit her ourselves. Geoff still loves Griffon, and Griffon still loves Geoff. They just live far away from one another."

He sniffles a little, and uses my sleeve to wipe his runny eyes and nose. I wince a little in disgust at that but don’t end up saying anything to stop him. Gavin’s wiped worse things in my sleeves after all.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Michael stay?"

"Of course I’m staying."

"No leave?"

"If I did leave, you’d be coming with me," I smile and kiss the tip of his nose, "As if I could ever leave my creeper boy behind."

He giggles at the name, and thinks over my words for a few moments until he finally nods, “Okay.”

Relief washes through me as soon as he says that word, “Thank God.” I murmur. He smiles and kisses me on the nose back.”But no more gifts, okay? I almost had a heart attack when I heard you screaming this morning. You scared the shit out of me.”

"Okay," he nods, seeming to understand, "Cheeking?"

I groan in annoyance. Of course he feels compelled to show his love in some kind of way. Although I originally found it annoying, I must admit that now I understand the feeling behind it. When he snuggles his face against my shoulder it isn’t to be a pest, it’s to present that love in a way without words.

Geoff won’t be happy if he sees Gavin acting like a creeper, but I’ve already put my boy through enough. What’s the harm in letting him have one thing that can be shared between the two of us.

Just because cheeking is a creeper thing, doesn’t mean it can’t also be a Michael/Gavin thing.

"Okay, fine," I relent, "But  _only_ when we’re alone. Geoff’s going to kick my ass if he sees you doing it.”

He squeals loudly and happily before excitedly hissing something. I’m practically thrown back against the bed when he wraps his arms around me and hugs me so close that I think I’m going to choke.

"Okay, okay, Gavin! I get it!" I chuckle, "No need to deprive me of oxygen."

He doesn’t even pay attention, and just begins snuggling his face against my shoulder, already taking advantage of the cheeking exception.

I smile, no longer feeling annoyance towards the action. He’s just trying to show how much he loves me. I can’t believe I was so stupid and tried to stop him. It’s no wonder why he thought I was rejecting him. I still can’t swallow down the guilt burrowed deep inside of me.

"I’m sorry for making you worry," I say quietly, and he stops his nuzzling to look up at me curiously, "I’m stupid, okay?"

He shakes his head quickly, “Not stupid.”

"Yes, I am. I’m stupid because I made you feel unloved."

“ _That_  was stupid. But Michael’s not stupid.” he states again, nodding his head in an all business fashion.

I smile, “Oh yeah? Then what is Michael?”

"Michael’s lovely," he smiles, kissing me on the cheek.

I roll my eyes at the term but decide to play along, “You’re lovely too.”

He grins but it’s interrupted by an adorable yawn and he’s forced to rub his fist against in eyes. His eyes look more dreary and tired when he opens them again. “Sleep?”

"Yeah, of course," I nod, and I’m about to get off the bed but he latches his arms around me. I raise an eyebrow at him but he just gives me a pleading look. It’s so easy to read his facial expressions at this point.

Is this how all couples feel around one another? The overwhelming desire to protect and be near each other all of the time. If not I feel bad for everybody else out there for not getting to experience this, because life must have been so boring for me before I met Gavin all those months ago.

"Fine, fine," I pretend to act annoyed, "We can have a sleepover."

He claps excitedly and burrows down into his blankets.

"I love you, Gav." I murmur, as I lay down next to him in the bed. He smiles and snuggles closer to me, humming contently at my words.

"I love you," he whispers, and we don’t speak anymore throughout the night.

Gavin affectionately rubs his cheek against my shoulder, so softly that I can bearly feel it, until exhaustion overtakes him and he falls asleep.

It’s nice to see him so relaxed again, especially after all of the stress and worry he’s been put through lately.

I chuckle quietly to myself before pressing a soft kiss to his forehead, then nuzzle my own face into his shoulder and letting myself fall asleep there.

Life is still pretty good.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creeper Boy Christmas Special! Some short moments revolving around how Gavin spent his first Christmas in Achievement City.

It’s as though my ears have become sensitive to the sound of Gavin’s screams. Whether I’m sleeping or awake, just hearing his high pitched panicked squeals causes me to jump into action regardless of what’s happening around me.

It’s no surprise that as soon as I hear it this morning, I’m out of bed and out the door before I even think to grab my sword.

I stop dead in my tracks when I see that everything is covered in a clean sheet of white snow. Thick white snowflakes are falling to the ground around me gracefully and continues to decorate the trees. Yesterday there wasn’t a hint of snow, but the air has been feeling colder lately.

It is December after all.

"Michael!" I hear Gavin cry, and I look over at his house to see him standing in his doorway. He has his hands wrapped around his arms and I don’t know if it’s because he’s cold or scared.

"Gavin!" I yell back, running the short distance from my house to his, "What’s wrong, are you okay?"

He points down at the snow covered ground, his bare feet a mere few inches from it. I look back and forth between him and it, he looks incredibly worried and confused.

"Yeah, it must have snowed last night. A lot too," I murmur, and kick around some of the loose snow surrounding my feet.

He squeals and grabs me by the shoulders, roughly pulling me into his house.

"Jeez, what’s wrong with you?" I manage to catch myself from falling to the floor when he lets me go in favor of closing the door.

He just looks out of the window with a worried expression on his face, not bothering to answer my question.

Why is he freaking out so much? Does he not like snow?

To test this I open up the door and he turns around immediately with wide eyes.

"No, Michael!" he cries and tries to shut it again. I hold it open though and fight against him.

"Gavin, fucking stop! What the hell is wrong?"

He just gives me a pitiful concerned look that makes me want to scoop him up in my arms. “Have you been possessed or something? Are you okay? Should I go get the witch doctor?”

*

I end up going to get the witch doctor.

Or in other words, Ryan.

I stay with Gavin for an hour or two and try to keep his mind away from whatever is upsetting him. It works for the most part, but he’s constantly looking back towards the window nervously.

He yelled and fought the entire time I tried to leave his house, but when I finally got out he refused to run after me. Hearing him cry out for me to stay with him made me feel really bad, but I know that nothing is going to happen to him within his own house. He’ll be fine, Gavin just tends to overreact over nothing. You get used to it when you’ve been dating him for a few months.

"Town meeting!" I to them all once I leave Gavin’s. Almost everybody is awake and already outside anyways, so it doesn’t take long them long to gather together into the middle of town.

One of the best things about our little community is that when you announce a town meeting, everybody drops everything to come without question. Sometimes it’s for serious matters, sometimes it for something as simple as asking when lunch will be.

"What’s up?" Ray asks, but it’s obvious that everybody knows it has to do with the town’s resident creeper boy due to all of the shouting he was doing when I left his house.

"Gavin’s being weird," I state out right. Everybody turns toward the small boy’s house and we can see him still worriedly looking out of the window.

He scoffs, “What else is new?”

"No, I mean, he isn’t jumping around and being a moron like usual. He’s just hiding in his house terrified to leave."

Geoff raises an eyebrow, “Think it has anything to do with the snow?”

"But why? He’s a creeper. He’s lived the majority of his life outdoors." Jack questions.

Ryan rolls his eyes as though he’s annoyed at our lack of creeper knowledge. “Creepers usually travel to warmer climates when it gets cold. I imagine Gavin’s spent his winters in desert biomes, that’s usually where they migrate.”

"So he’s never seen snow before?"

"Probably not. I can’t imagine anybody being this scared if they’re familiar with it."

"Well how about we just teach him that it’s safe?" Ray suggests.

"I think you just want an excuse to play in the snow all day," Geoff accuses him, and I have to admit that it’s true. I wouldn’t mind taking a day off of our usual duties to play around and goof off.

"But it’s to help Gavin," I point out, "Do you really want all of us to pack up and spend winter in a desert biome?"

He rolls his eyes but I know I’ve made my point. Gavin is Geoff’s weak spot. They really are like father and son, and it seems like Geoff would do almost anything to keep the kid safe. Their relationship makes me incredibly happy just because I know that I’m not the only one watching over him. Everybody else loves Gavin and would protect him in an instant, but not to the same extent as I would.

"Fine. You three can dick around in the snow if you want," he mutters, "But _only_  because Gavin looks like he’s going to shit himself every time he sees it.”

"Why only those three?" Ryan asks, a childish frown on his face.

"Yeah, we wanna play in the snow too!" Jack argues.

"Jesus Christ," Geoff groans, "Fine, all of you can play in the damn snow. I’m surrounded by children."

Ray lets out a loud noise of celebration, “Snow day, bitches!”

*

"Gavin?" I knock on his doors, ignoring the numerous snowballs being thrown at me by Ray. They have not wasted any time in beginning to play in the snow.

"Michael?"

I smile and open up the door to find him still staring out of his window looking conflicted. He can see everybody else outside playing and having fun, and it’s obvious that he wants to join them.

"Hey, buddy, wanna come out and play?"

"No," he shakes his head stubbornly, still refusing to believe that snow is safe.

"Come on, just try it. It’s really fun, I promise," I say as I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him in for a hug.

"No danger?" he asks while nuzzling his cheek against my shoulder softly.

"None whatsoever," I grin and walk away from him towards the door, "Look, I’ll prove it."

I open up the door and scoop a bunch of snow. Gavin watches me quietly from inside the safety of his house as I throw it up into the air and it rains down on me, covering my hair and shoulders in snow before I gently shake it off. I make sure to keep a grin on my face the entire time so that he knows that it’s fun and there isn’t one moment of discomfort or pain.

"See? Completely safe."

He still looks suspicious of it and although it’s fairly annoying, I can’t blame him. Imagine never seeing snow before, not knowing what it is or ever hearing about it. Then suddenly your entire home is covered in it with no explanation to you at all.

"It’s just winter, Gavin," I try to explain, "Which means that the air gets colder and snow falls from the sky. This is all the snow that’s fallen so far."

"What is it?"

"Like, cold water." I pick up a handful and swallow some just to prove a point, "Totally harmless."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. But that means that you have to dress warmer too. We’ve all got winter coats and stuff, but we’ll have to ask Ryan to make you one."

He nods and steps to his door frame, staring down at the snow near his feet.

"Come on, Gavin!" I hear Ray yell out. He’s hiding behind a small snow wall, throwing snowballs at Jack who’s trying to make an igloo.

"You know you want to," I grin at the look on his face. He’s just fighting against himself to finally give in and join them.

"Can Michael help?"

"Of course," I take his hand and he takes his first step onto snow. His feet sink into it and it makes a satisfying crunch noise. I snicker when his eyes widen at it with amusement.

He lifts up one of his feet only to bring it down again, enjoying the sound it makes.

"See? It’s fun."

He nods slowly, and hesitantly kick some snow around to test it.

"Here," I pick up a handful of snow and press it down into a tight ball, "This is a snowball. Ray spends the majority of winter throwing them at people, but they’re totally harmless."

As if to prove my point, a snowball flies over our way and I duck just into time for it to miss me and hit the wall of Gavin’s house instead. Gavin squeals out of fright and he would run back to his house if it weren’t for me grabbing his arm and holding him back.

"Not helping, Ray!" I yell but he just laughs in return, "See, Gav? Ray’s having a good time. If it would have hit me it wouldn’t have hurt."

"But you got upset."

"Only because I’m trying to show you that it’s safe and I didn’t think immersing you in a snowball fight would be the way to do it."

"Snowball fight?" he questions, cocking his head with confusion.

"Yeah, it’s when everybody throws snowballs at one another."

He thinks about this for a few moments, committing the unfamiliar words to memory and trying to process their explanations. “Is it fun?” he asks with a hopeful but still hesitant look in his eyes.

Finally we’re getting somewhere.

"Yeah," I smile, "Of course it is. Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it all of the time."

Gavin watches the snow around his feet for a few silent moments before finally meeting my gaze again, “Can we have a snowball fight?”

I let a grin spread across my face, “Fuck yes.”

*

Ray, Gavin, and I are are crouched behind our snow fort wall, trying to quickly make as many snowballs as we can and pile them up. We have no idea what the opposing team (which consists of just Ryan and Jack) are doing. As I explain to Gavin the rules of a snowball fight, Ray continues to pester Geoff until he finally gives in an joins us.

"Come on, Geoff!" Ray hollers over to the man that’s leaning against his house, watching us with an amused look on his face.

"Fuck off!" he calls back, but it’s obvious that he’s only a few seconds away from caving. As much as he hates to admit it, he loves to play silly games with us too. Whenever he allows himself to be in the Let’s Plays, he raves on and on about how much fun they are.

"Please, Geoffrey!" I say, "It’s not as fun without you and your game structure!"

He lets out a dramatic sigh and begins to walk over to Ryan and Jack’s side with a grin.

"If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right!" he states.

"What do you suggest?"

"We need an actual winning team by the end of this. First team to lose every member of their team to the other, loses. If you get hit by three snowballs, each by a member of the opposing team, then you have to switch."

"Sounds fair enough. Any rules?"

"No."

This is going to get dangerous real fast, but that’s always when things are the most fun.

We all cheer that he’s joining us and he crouches down behind the enemy base. Thus making this a game of Lads vs. Gents.

"Perfect!" I whisper to the lads who are busy making snowballs. Our fingers are all freezing since we aren’t wearing gloves, but it’s easy to ignore. "Keep your eyes open. Geoff is the scheming one. He’ll probably be coming up with all of their plans. Jack is a builder and will probably be assigned to fortification, so be prepared for their base to be high quality. Ryan… is a fucking lunatic, let’s be honest. Just make sure he’s always on your radar."

The two nod, even though I’m sure Gavin didn’t really understand what any of that meant.

"Ray, you’re aim is the best out of everyone in Achievement City, but try not to be too reckless. I don’t want to hear any cries of  _yolo_. Try your hardest not to get tagged.”

"Got it."

"Gavin… uh…" Ray smirks as I fail to think of something that he excels in, "Just don’t die. ‘kay, babe?"

"Got it!" Gavin grins.

It’s quite apparent that we take stupid children games like snowball fights  _way_ too seriously in Achievement City. I peep over the edge of our little snow fort to see that Geoff is talking to the Gents in hushed whispers, obviously making a game plan.

Fuck that.

"Gav, snowball me," I hold my hand out to him and he quickly places one in my palm. I don’t hesitate to throw it right at Geoff. I just want the war to start completely. If I were going for annoyance I would have gone for Ryan. But hitting Geoff means that this will be kicked into high gear.

"Ow! You fucking cocksucker!" he yells at me.

Of course, the game continues for a few more minutes. An uncountable amount of snowballs are thrown back and forth between our forts. Gavin’s quickly trying to conjure up as many as he can, attempting to be helpful is any way possible.

Ray and I both take turns looking out and seeing if the coast is clear for the other to make a shot. It’s a good system, and so far we’ve gotten Geoff once, Jack twice, and Ryan once. They’ve gotten both Ray and I twice each so far, but only Gavin once.

I tell Ray to shut up when he begins humming battle music, and it’s only when he stops that I realize how quiet everything is.

"What’s going on?" I whisper to him, "They’ve stopped."

"Think they’re up to something?"

"I don’t know."

"Hey!" a voice calls out, and all three of us look out to see Geoff standing in front of his base, completely defenseless.

I hold up a snowball threateningly, but he puts his hands up in surrender.

"Don’t fire. I’m peacefully offering a discussion of exchange."

I give him a suspicious glare, “What kind of exchange?”

"No. First we must know that we can trust you. I am unarmed and as you can see from my men, they have no plans on attack." he gestures to the rest of the gents, who are watching from behind their fort much like us. They also raise up their hands in surrender, showing that their empty.

"Let us discuss among ourselves first."

"Of course."

We duck back behind our wall and huddle around each other, Gavin’s still smiling at the excitement of all of this.

"You following any of this at all?" Ray asks him.

"Snow is fun!" he beams.

"Great," I roll my eyes at his incompetence, but turn back to the matter at hand, "Think we should trust them?"

"I don’t know. It seems pretty risky. But they’ve offered a peaceful discussion, so breaking their own offer would be dishonorful."

"True. I don’t think Geoff could ever look Griffon in the eye again if he brought that kind of dishonor upon his own team."

"I think we should at least see what they’ve got to say. We can always decline if it’s unsatisfactory."

I know Gavin doesn’t understand most of these words we’re using, but it all ties in to the war-type game we’re playing, and it wouldn’t be as much fun without it. He seems to be content regardless, so it isn’t much of a bother.

"Agreed. I’ll go out and you guys be prepared for attack if something goes wrong. Gavin, watch Geoff. Ray, watch the remaining Gents."

"Okay." they both nod in synchronization and we all lift our heads again.

"Alright, Geoff. We agree to the discussion of exchange, but we want no tomfoolery to take place during."

"That is acceptable," he nods, "Who is going out for discussion?"

"Me."

"Ryan will meet you in the center of the battle field."

"Excellent."

I duck down behind the fort again with the Lads, “Fuck, they’re sending out Ryan. I figured they would send out Geoff. Keep an  _extra_ close eye, okay? I don’t want anything going wrong.”

  
"We got your back, Jones." Ray says, giving me a firm pat on the shoulder.

"You’re a good man, Narvaez."

"Bye, Michael!" Gavin smiles cheerfully and waves as I leave, totally ruining the illusion.

"Goddammit, Gavin," I mutter and roll my eyes.

As I walk to the center of the battlefield, Ryan meets me there. There’s no sign of snowballs in his hands and although I know I shouldn’t, I trust that there won’t be any backstabbing taking place.

"Ryan."

"Michael."

"Sup, bro?"

"Oh, you know," he shrugs, "Nothing really. Trying to take down your army and then bathe in the blood of the innocents. The usual."

I gulp. Even after all of these years of knowing him, Ryan can be really fucking creepy when he wants to be. “Okay, whatever you say, psychopath.”

He chuckles, “We have agreed to meet here to discuss an exchange the Gents are willing to offer.”

"I’m listening."

"We are willing to give your team fifty well prepared fresh snowballs," he states out right.

I turn to look at the Lads and Ray’s mouth is dropped at the thought. Fifty snowballs is a lot of ammunition, probably enough to last us the rest of the game. We could stop snowball production altogether.

But I’m not stupid. I know if they’re willing to give away that many snowballs they must want something more valuable to them.

"In exchange for what?"

Ryan smirks evilly at me and I resist the strong urge to wince or look away from him. “We want Gavin.”

My eyes widen, “Absolutely not.”

"We believe it is a fair trade. That number of snowballs is worth another player on our end. We believe it is evening out the field in your favor."

"In our favor!? You’d have four guys against two!"

"But you would have all of our current ammunition."

I glare at him, easily breaking character, “We are not trading off my boyfriend.”

"Oh please," he scoffs, "He won’t care. That kid will do anything you say."

"I don’t  _own_  him, Ryan. He’s a human being.”

"Who caters to your every whim. We, the Gents, want that."

"You make him sound like he’s my pet."

"Because he basically is!"

"He is not!"

"Oh yeah?" he challenges, "Whistle for him then. Like a dog."

Fuck.

He sees the hesitation on my face and continues to mock me, “Whistle for your little creeper pet, Michael.”

"You’re so fucking creepy, Ryan," I mutter, glaring into his eyes, "Gavin is not my pet and I’m not going to exchange him for fifty snowballs. He’s worth more than that to me and my team."

He leans in close to me with that smirk still on his face before whispering the words, “ _Whistle_.”

I know I’m not going to get out of this unless I whistle for Gavin. I’m hoping that he won’t come, although whistling is actually what we use to find each other when we part ways out in the woods. I’m fearful that he might come running to me out of habit.

I take a deep breath and then whistle softly.

"Gavin, no!" I hear Ray say, but it’s hopeless because within seconds Gavin is latched onto my side, out in the middle of the arena with me and the goddamn mad king.

"Told you," Ryan grins.

"Fuck off," I roll my eyes, "What I’ve said still stands. Gavin isn’t for sale and all of the snowballs in the world wouldn’t make us sell him to you. You’re sick."

"Yeah!" Ray yells, "What he said!"

"Yeah!" Gavin repeats him, probably still not following the conversation at all and just wanting to join in, "What he said!"

"Gavin," Geoff hollers from his base, "Do you want to be on our team?"

He gasps excitedly at the thought, “Yeah!”

"Gavin!" I yell, giving him an incredulous look. He stares back at me innocently, not knowing that he’s just agreed to betrayal against his own team.

"Grab him!" Jack yells.

Before I can do anything to stop him, Ryan harshly shoves me so that I fall backwards onto the snow before grabbing Gavin and running back to his base with him.

I’m about to run after him but I’m reminded of the danger of the situation when Ray yells out to me.

"Michael get back!"

I’m out in the middle of the battlefield with nothing but a single man who is back at base to protect me. I scramble back as quickly as I can, dodging a snowball thrown by Jack.

Once back to the safety of my own base I yell over at them, “We said no tomfoolery!”

"Too bad!"

"I’m gonna skin you alive and feed the remains to Edgar!"

"This is goddamn ridiculous," I hear Geoff say between sinister giggles.

"Are you alright, man?" Ray asks me.

"I’m fine, but-"

"I know. We didn’t even get the fifty snowballs."

“ _Ray_!”

"Okay, okay, sorry. Yeah, I get it. Lover boy has switched sides. In all honesty this is worst case scenario for us. We’ve only got one hit left each, we know they’ve got fifty snowballs back there piled up, plus now they have Gavin, who can make them more if they need it. Which I doubt they will. We’re completely outnumbered."

I sigh, “We’re more fucked than you and Geoff were that time we played The Walls and you dug yourselves to bedrock and then blew it up.”

"That was entertainment value."

"It was dumbass value, and now we’re worse off than you two were during that. We’re fucked no matter how we go about this. We have nothing, and they have  _Gavin_. Which sucks for us.”

Ray raises an eyebrow, “Does it though?”

I glare at him, “Yes.”

"Should we surrender?"

"Yeah, but let’s do it with a bang. Grab all of the snowballs you can."

We gather up as many as we can in our arms before running out. There’s no sign of the gents or Gavin peeking out or keeping watch as we carefully sneak out, trying our hardest to be unheard.

As soon as we reach their fort we peek over the ledge and see them huddled up and talking to Gavin, who is nodding at their words. Ryan sees us first and opens his mouth to alert everybody else, but we’re too fast and begin pelting them with snowballs. Easily taking down everybody as screams and battle cries fill the air.

Although the game is obviously over, we continue to attack them, everybody is laughing too hard to actually argue over the legitimacy of the previous moves and instead we all turn to physically attacking one another.

"We were trying to train our new recruit!" Geoff argues, still laughing his ass off as he playfully pushes me.

"You mean kidnap victim!"

"He wasn’t kidnapped, he agreed to join our side!"

"Michael!" Gavin cries out, and leaps at both of us. We stumble at the impact but laugh regardless when he giggles and fights back against us too.

"You’re such a double agent, you little fucker!" I grin at him.

"I don’t know what’s happening!" he says, still not following the game or lack thereof.

Once everything settles down and we’re all just laughing at the ridiculous snowball fight that had just taken place, Gavin rubs at his bare arms with his hands, trying to create some friction in an attempt to warm himself. It’s only then that I remember that he’s the only one out here without a coat on or any other winter clothing. Fuck, he’s probably freezing.

"You okay, buddy?" Geoff asks him, but Gavin just nods easily, not bothered much by the cold.

"We should get him inside and get some warm, dry clothes on him. He still isn’t used to this type of temperature, but I’m sure it will catch up once all of the excitement wears off," Ryan says, helping Ray off of the ground where he was tackled during the fun.

"I’m fine!" Gavin protests as Geoff leads him back to his house by the shoulders, "I want to play!"

"Nope, it’s not safe for you to be out in the cold like this with no coat," Geoff explains, "We were stupid to completely forget about it, but you’re going to end up getting sick."

"Michael said snow is safe!"

"It is, but only when you’re wearing warm clothing."

"Oh."

"You feeling cold?"

"Yes," he nods, snuggling into Geoff’s jacket.

I grin at their fatherly son relationship. So much care and love shouldn’t be physically possible because sometimes it’s just too goddamn adorable.

"Well, that was a wildly successful snowball war, and even though it’s still early in the afternoon, I am exhausted." I say, and everybody else nods in agreement.

*

Gavin’s snuggled up in blanket as we sit on the floor of his house hours later. He keeps raving on and on about how much he likes the snow and keeps interrupting our lesson to ask when we can go out to play again.

"You look insanely adorable all cuddled up in a blanket like that," I point out, smirking at the sight of him.

"It’s warm and fluffy," he grins, "Ryan gave it to me."

"He had to, we still don’t have a coat for you yet. You’d probably freeze otherwise."

"Winter is fun," he muses, "Is there more fun?"

"Well it’s going to be Christmas in two weeks," I point out, "So we’ll probably get a tree and everything."

"Christmas?" he cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah," I nod, "I haven’t told you about it yet?"

"No. What is it?"

"It’s a holiday to celebrate those you love and care about," I try to explain as simply as I can.

"I love and care about Michael," he says, innocence and confusion in his wide eyes.

I grin and pull him forward to kiss his temple, “Yeah, buddy, of course that counts. But it’s not just to celebrate how much you love your boyfriend. It’s about being with your friends and family, and giving presents to one another.”

"Presents!?"

"You do not need to get me a present." I state outright, "We all know how badly that ended last time. Usually what we do is everybody gets one present each from the others."

"Gavin gets a present?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Is Christmas as fun as snowball fights?"

"Well here in Achievement City it is," I smile as I watch his eyes grow even wider in excitement, "We get a tree and then decorate it with a bunch of flashing lights."

I take the next few moments to draw a picture of a Christmas tree onto his wall. My artistic skills have still not improved much since our first lesson. He watches with fascination, already bouncing giddy in place at the very idea of it.

"Christmas sounds fun!"

"There are other holidays too," I point out, "Lots of people celebrate different things. Our friend Barbara came for a visit last year and we celebrated Hanukkah with her. She gave us all little Hanukkah stickers for fun and Geoff is still annoyed that she didn’t bother to give him one."

"Tell me more!" he demands when I don’t continue.

I laugh and spend the rest of the night teaching him about the holidays that we typically celebrate and what we do on those days. His excitement grows more and more and he seems amazed at the entire concept of holidays.

*

I probably should have waited until Christmas Eve to tell him about these things, because even a week later he’s still squealing about it and bothering Geoff when he comes back from visiting Griffon.

I feel like, other than Gavin, I talk to Geoff and do chores with him the most. I’m always playfully pretending to be a kiss ass and doing whatever he says, but we honestly are really good friends. Right now we’re in the mine underneath Jack’s house, searching for any coal or iron we may have missed before.

"I’d been busy all week taking care of Griffon. She was sick with the flu while I was visiting and I had to keep going back and forth from her house to Slomoville to get medicine for her."

"Ah," I murmur, "Shitty. She okay now?"

"Yeah. She wanted to come back here to celebrate Gavin’s first Christmas with him, but she didn’t even feel well enough to get out of bed sometimes. Hence why I stayed a few days extra because even though she’s better now, I wanted to be sure before I left her on her own again."

"Did you take her to the clinic?"

"She’d threaten to break my arm whenever I’d bring it up. Unhealthy Griffon is not a happy Griffon."

"At least you managed to time your visit well enough to be there while she was sick. Would have sucked if she was all on her own."

"Yeah, no kidding," he nods, "Can you try to convince your dumbass boyfriend to stop pestering me about Christmas? We were trying to make the new Let’s Play yesterday and he wouldn’t shut the hell up about it."

"Can you really blame him?" I smirk, "It’s his first winter and Christmas. Poor thing is freaking out."

"Only one week left. Then no more overexcited Gavin." he mutters.

"Have you  _met_  Gavin? You think he’s going to calm down after Christmas? New Years is only a week after.”

"Fuck."

*

A few days later I’m incredibly confused when I wake up on my own accord.

It’s very rare that I am not woken up by my screaming excitable boyfriend. Usually the only peaceful mornings I get are when he’s busy helping Geoff build the new Let’s Play.

I try to keep my calm and get up as casually as possible. I need to stop panicking and worrying every time that Gavin isn’t in my sight. He isn’t a kid, even if he is a little dependent. I take my time putting on my winter coat and boots, attempting to push the overreacting thoughts from my head.

Gavin’s probably fine. Maybe he just slept in or decided to let me sleep for a few more hours. The more excuses my brain conjures up, the more unlikely it all seems.

My feet sink into the snow as I walk to Gavin’s. It isn’t snowing anymore, but the air still is pretty cold. Hopefully it doesn’t get stormy or we may have to post pone the Let’s Play.

I attempt to focus on other unimportant things like that as I come up to Gavin’s door and knock on it a lot harsher than intended.

"Hey, Gav?" I call out loudly, and then proceed to knock again when he doesn’t respond.

Worry begins to creep up my spine as more time passes in silence.

"Gavin?" I ask, my voice sounding a little more frantic. I say fuck it to Gavin’s personal space and open the door to his house. It’s not like he’s ever respected mine and waited outside when I told him not to come in.

All of my earlier fears come crashing down all at once when I see his house is empty. I spend no more than a few moments searching through for any sign of him, but he isn’t here.

No need to panic.

No need to panic.

"Geoff!" I scream at the top of my lungs, running out of Gavin’s house and towards his, "Geoffrey!"

Fuck, I probably sound like such a kid right now, but I don’t even care. I just need to make sure that Gavin is okay and somewhere safe. If it was warm outside then I wouldn’t be  _that_  worried, but it’s winter. It’s cold and snowing, he doesn’t have a coat and the consequences of not finding him in time could be more than just a little flu.

"Michael? What the fuck, man?" Geoff asks when I barge into his house, he’s still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Gavin’s gone."

Those are the only words I need to say for him to jump into action.

*

"How long do you think he’s been out there?" Jack asks as we all stand in Ryan’s house. I just want to hurry up and get the okay to go find Gavin. I don’t give a shit about everybody knowing, my main concern right now is finding him and bringing him back here alive.

"Probably not long, but we still have to find him fast. Gavin doesn’t have any understandings of cold or winter," Ryan states, "He’s probably out there with no winter apparel or source of heat."

"Follow any tracks of footprints that you can find. There are still lots just from us doing our jobs and stuff yesterday, but at least one has to lead to Gavin."

"It isn’t safe to go out there without proper equipment," Ryan says, "Most of you can hardly navigate your way through the woods when it’s summer. We don’t want any more people getting lost. So I think it’s about time we test out these."

We all raise an eyebrow as he kneels down next to a chest and opens it. He rummages in it for a few moments before pulling out a black headset looking thing.

"The hell is that?" Ray questions.

"Communication devices," he explains, as he hands it to me and then begins taking out others to give to everyone out, "We’ll all be able to talk to one another easily without any hassle. There’s tracking devices inside of it. That way if one of us finds Gavin then we can all meet back at Achievement City quickly."

“ _When_  one of us finds Gavin,” I correct.

He nods, “Yeah. When.”

"These are bad ass, Ryan," Geoff says as we all put them on. It’s a simple thing with only a button to adjust volume and to turn the thing on and off. They’re comfortable to wear and there’s no annoying wires to deal with.

"Think of it as my little Christmas gift to all of you." Ryan smiles.

"What’s the sitch, Wade?"

"Not the time, Ray," I glare at him, "Can we go now? The more time we spend here in the warmth, the more Gavin is out there."

"Don’t worry, Michael. We’ll find him."

"Yeah, but I prefer to find him without frostbite."

*

My boots sink into the snow with every step that I take and flakes gently land into my hair. Every few moments I have to shake my head to keep the cold and wet out of my hair as much as I can.

During the process of telling everybody about Gavin’s disappearance and preparing to go find him, I’ve tried to keep my mind off of it as much as possible.

But now I’m just stuck with these horrifying thoughts that sink into my brain. I _really_  don’t want to find Gavin hurt or injured. If it were warm I wouldn’t worry at all. Gavin’s survived who knows how long out in the woods all by himself with nobody around to help him. But winter is a whole other story.

The kid can hardly sit on a horse without practically falling off and killing himself. I don’t really have high expectations on his chances of survival out in winter all by himself.

When I go to shake my head again to get the snow out of my hair, I see a flash of green out of the corner of my eye.

When I first see it I think that it’s a creeper. The familiar look of Gavin’s creeper skin shirt both strikes fear and relief into me for a split moment.

"Oh my God," I breathe out slowly, relief flooding my senses when I see him.

He’s sitting on a large rock with his hands wrapped around his arms in an attempt to keep warm. As soon as I begin running toward him he looks up and his eyes are full of panic.

"Gavin!" I yell out to him. I’m only a few feet away when he screams out for me to stop.

"No, Michael!" he sobs, "No stop!"

I obey him, not moving another muscle. Oh, God, is he hurt? I instantly scan his entire body to check for blood or any visible woulds, but he looks fine. Other than the fact that he’s shivering like crazy.

Now isn’t the time to panic. Something is obviously not right and although I want nothing more than to scoop him up into my arms, it might not be a good idea.

"Gav?"

"Stop," he repeats, and puts his hands over his mouth and nose, as though to conceal them in some way. I don’t know why though, he doesn’t appear to be injured or hurt there.

"What is it? What’s wrong?"

His face crumples in a way that completely breaks my heart. “Geoff says I’m not a creeper but I am, Michael! I am!” he cries, his voice slightly muffled from his hands.

"Gavin, what are you talking about!?" His teeth and chattering and it’s obvious that he’s freezing.

"I’m exploding!" he cries, "I don’t want to explode! I don’t want to be a creeper! I want to be like Michael!"

You can hear the chill in his voice. As though he’s fighting against the cold to me. It cracks and wavers with each word as he speaks, and it only helps to feed my worry.

I shake my head quickly, trying my hardest to reassure him in the fastest way possible. But I also have to be calm, Gavin’s acting hysterical enough for the both of us. Panicking is only going to scare him more and I need to calm him down because I don’t know how much longer he can last out here without being severely injured from the temperature.

"You aren’t a creeper, Gavin. You’re not going to explode."

"I have!"

"No you haven’t, you’re still in one piece, aren’t you?"

I can’t fathom why he’s thinking like this. Hesitant realization dances in his eyes and I grasp onto that. The more he realizes that he’s safe and nothing bad is going to happen, then the quicker I can get him back to the safety and warmth of Achievement City.

Gavin seems to consider my words and even looks down to check that he is indeed all there, he hasn’t been blown up yet. He subconsciously moves his hands away from his face as he does so, “…Yeah.”

"Yeah," I nod, taking a few small steps closer to him, "When creepers explode they get blown up too. If you were exploding you wouldn’t still be standing here, right?"

"But I have!" he argues, his face becoming fearful again, "Gavin’s been exploding and I don’t want Michael hurt!"

It’s only when he uses his own name to refer to himself that I’m reminded of the fact that this is still Gavin. The quiet and curious creeper boy that I’ve found orphaned out in the woods all of those months ago. Although he’s learning and discovering new things about what it’s like to be an actual person instead of a creeper, he still doesn’t know everything. He’s still unfamiliar with human concepts and behaviors.

"You aren’t going to hurt me," I take another step towards him but the sound of his horrified shriek makes me stop dead in my track.

I raise my eyebrow when he suddenly sneezes, so harshly that his while body shudders from it. But that isn’t the odd part, the odd part is Gavin’s scream of terror afterwards. He covers up his face again and makes even more distance between us.

Realization strikes.

"Oh, baby," I coo, trying not to chuckle out of pure relief, "You aren’t exploding. You’re just sneezing."

"Sneezing?" his tone suggests that he’s never even heard the word before.

I nod frantically and take a few more slow steps toward him. He doesn’t jump back and instead remains in place, watching me as he thinks over the word.

He’s still just that scared little creeper boy. Scared of losing people close to him and terrified that he might be the reason that they’re gone. We haven’t talked much about his family, I know that the more time he spends with us the more that empty hole in his heart is filled.

He just wants to be surrounded by those that he cares about and he doesn’t want to be alone anymore. But here he is, sitting out in the middle of the freezing cold, all alone because he’s scared that he’s going to hurt his new family.

"It’s not a creeper thing. It’s a human thing. People sneeze all the time. It’s normal.  _You’re_  normal. You aren’t going to hurt anybody.”

"…Really?" his voice is so quiet and hopeful that I can’t help but smile.

"Really," I confirm, and walk the last few steps toward him before engulfing him in my arms. He doesn’t jump away anymore and embraces it, sighing with relief that he isn’t actually a danger to me.

It’s only then that I remember that he’s freezing. I can feel the goosebumps on his arms since he’s only wearing his usual creeper skin shirt and no coat. Fuck, he’s already sick so being out here in the cold isn’t helping that at all. When I go to pull away he pulls me back.

"No. Stay," he murmurs into my shoulder, I can hear the soft noise of his teeth chattering together, "Warm."

"Goddammit, here," I quickly take off my coat and put it around his shoulders.

As soon as I take it off the cold air bites at my skin and I question how he ever managed this long out here. He doesn’t argue and just snuggles deeply into the fabric of the coat which hangs off of his lanky frame.

I turn on my communications device, wasting no time in updating the guys. “I’ve got him.”

"Oh thank god," Geoff responds, breathing out a huge sigh of relief, "Is he okay?" Everybody else keeps quiet, knowing that they may have to be ready for any kind of emergency news. It is winter after all.

"I think so. He’s absolutely freezing and I think he’s sick. I gave him my coat but I don’t know how long he’s last out here before getting seriously ill."

"Fuck, okay, get him back to Achievement City as fast as possible. Everybody else make your way back as well."

"Got it, boss," somebody says in response, but I don’t even pay attention to their confirmations because I’m too busy focusing on Gavin, who now has his eyes closed as he attempts to block out the cold.

"Bring him to your house when you get there," Ryan instructs, "I’ll start up your fireplace and bring blankets over there along with a first aid kit."

"Sound good," I respond, already starting to shiver from the cold.

I turn off the device and look back to Gavin, “Are you okay?”

There’s frost on his eyelashes and if I wasn’t so concerned I’d probably make a joke about icicles hanging from his big dopey nose soon. “Cold,” he murmurs weakly.

"I know, buddy, we’re gonna get you home."

"Carry?"

I scoff and roll my eyes even though I’m not annoyed. I’m more concerned than anything, but I don’t want him to see that. I want him to think that everything is okay and that I’m not panicking right now.

I allow him to weakly climb onto my back, wincing at the feeling of the cold material of his clothing against my skin.

As I begin walking back to Achievement City, I get more and more fearful that I won’t make it back in time. That when we get there we’ll find out that Gavin has frost bite or hypothermia.

"It’s gonna be okay," I murmur, but I’m not sure if I’m saying it to Gavin or myself.

"Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"I’m scared."

Fucking-  _God fucking dammit_.

"Don’t be."

*

My legs and lungs feel like they’re on fire when I finally make it back to Achievement City.

Everybody is waiting for us in the center of town, some pacing, others with worried looks on their faces as they speak in hushed tones.

"Hey!" I yell out, still too tired and cold to walk the rest of the ways toward them.

All of their heads snap up immediately and I can see the relief in their eyes as they run over to us. Gavin is pulled off of my back by Ryan and he already begins walking him to my house as Geoff does the same with me.

"Are you okay, Michael?" he asks.

"I’m fine, just worry about Gavin."

"Trust me when I say that I am. But you don’t look so good either."

I actually feel alright other than the fact that I’m incredibly tired from walking such a long distance in the cold. My arms and legs feel stiff and numb, but I’m fine otherwise.

When Geoff sets me down, we’re inside of my house and Gavin is sitting up next to me. I can feel the warmth of the fireplace to the side of us and blankets being pulled up and around my shoulders by the others.

"Gavin, are you awake?" Ryan asks him, holding him up by the shoulders.

His eyelids flicker a little, which is a good sign because that means that he isn’t unconscious. I move Ryan’s hands away and take Gavin’s cheeks, bring his face closer to mine.

"Hey, Gavvy," I murmur to him, not finding the strength to speak any louder, "You’ve gotta wake up, buddy. We’re all really worried about you."

He moans a little, but leans in to my touch a little more.

I sigh in relief. I know what Gavin’s like when he’s just sleeping. He’ll refuse to wake up and instead whines and complains instead of opening his eyes and giving in to the fact that he’s been woken up. He’s always storming into my house and pulling me out of bed, but when I do it to him he acts like I’m the most horrible person in the world.

"I know you’re awake," I smile, "But we’re out of the cold. We’re in my house, and we need to make sure you stay warm, okay?"

He nods, his eyes opening a little but not fully. I give him a small peck on the nose, and it’s still cold.

"We’ve got to get him out of those clothes. We don’t want the blankets getting wet because he’ll never warm up then," Ryan says.

I begin pulling his shirt off. He doesn’t protest against it, but also doesn’t help the process. It’s sopping wet from all of the melted snow.

I strip him down, using a blanket to give him some form of decency but I’m sure nobody really cares at this point. Warming him up and keeping him alive is more important than not wanting everybody to see him naked. Not like Gavin would be bothered by it anyways.

Jack hands me a warm and dry sweater which I pull over his head. Once I get his hands through the sleeves I see that he’s beginning to drift off again while sitting up. His eyelids flutter closed and he mumbles something about being tired.

"No, no, no," I say, holding him in place so that he won’t fall to the side, "You’ve gotta stay awake, Gavvy."

"I don’t want to," he murmurs, his nose scrunching up in distaste.

He pouts at me when I begin slapping his cheeks lightly, but his eyes open up all the way and I can tell that he’s more alert now.

"I don’t think he has frostbite or anything of the sort," Ryan says after checking him, "But we’re lucky you’d gotten to him when you did. He’ll probably have a fairly nasty cold, but that should be it." He continues talking to Geoff about Gavin’s immune system and other things. I don’t bother paying attention because I’m too busy trying to fully wake up Gavin.

"Just look at me, okay?" I whisper.

"Okay."

His eyelids droop every few moments but he continues to stay awake and stare into my eyes as Ryan prepares potions and the others do as much as they can to keep the house warm.

"Drink this," Ryan hands him a bottle filled with bright pink liquid.

Gavin obeys and begins to swallow it. Judging by the amount of cringing he’s doing, it must taste awful. At least he’s smart enough to know at this point that when you’re in trouble and Ryan tells you to take a potion, you fucking take it.

"Yuck," he grimaces after finishing it off, but it’s obvious that it’s helped to wake him up a little more.

"Here, it’ll take the taste away," Jack says and hands him a bowl of warm soup.

Gavin looks down at the liquid, then at the spoon that Jack’s holding out, then at me.

"No." I state outright and shake my head. He pouts and gives me the most pitiful look he can manage but I can still pick out the smugness behind it. Like he knows he’s being a jackass just for requesting that I feed him and it’s just so amusing.

I roll my eyes and take the spoon. Only agreeing because it’s such a relief to see the usual Gavin that is currently trapped behind the sick and miserable one.

"That’s all we can do for now," Ryan says, "I’ll check to see if he’s any worse later but he should be fine for the next few hours. Just keep him warm. I’ve never had to help anybody that’s been out in the cold for too long, so I don’t want to chance anything. You should wake him up every few hours to make sure that he’s okay."

I feed Gavin another spoonful and then take one for myself. “How long do you reckon he’ll be sick for?”

"Not sure, I’d guess maybe a week? He’s never been sick before and we don’t know how his body will react to it. He should stay inside for all of that time period."

"No!" Gavin protests, "Christmas!"

Geoff gives him a sad look and ruffles his hair, “Looks like you’ll be missing this one, buddy.”

The look on his face is heartbreaking. He was so excited to spend his first Christmas with his friends. He was looking forward to going and cutting down a tree with us, decorating, and having a good time. He’s never had a Christmas before and the idea of holidays were completely foreign to him.

It does suck, just because he was so excited about the idea of spending the holidays with everybody and now he’s going to have to spend it sick and alone.

"It’s okay, I’ll stay inside with you the entire time," I smile at him, trying to somehow cheer him up.

"Gross," Ray comments.

"Shut up, not like that," I roll my eyes and turn back to Gavin, " We’ll have a Team Nice Dynamite Christmas right here in front of the fireplace."

He offers me a weak smile in return, obviously trying to stay optimistic about the whole.

I’m willing to stay inside with him while he’s sick. He’s never been ill before, and I think the only reason it’s happening now is because Geoff took Griffon’s sickness back here with him.

"Okay," he nods slowly.

Ryan takes his temperature one last time after I finish feeding him soup. Then Jack makes sure we have enough blankets and adds more wood to the fireplace before they all say goodbye and leave so that we can finally sleep for a while. It’s crazy how much walking through the cold woods can tire you out. It’s still only the afternoon but I feel like I’m ready to just collapse.

Once everybody leaves, Gavin leans over to rub his cheek against my shoulder both for warmth and to apologize.

"I’m sorry, Michael," he murmurs.

"Don’t be sorry," I respond, "You didn’t know. If anything I should be sorry that I haven’t taught you about sicknesses yet."

"Am I in trouble?"

"With who? Me?"

"No, am  _I_ in trouble? Am I going to be okay?”

I blink at him before nodding, “Yeah, of course. I’ve gotten you back to the house and out of the cold. You aren’t going to die or loose a limb on my watch, huh?”

I grin at him in order to clear away the serious air, and it seems to work because he smiles softly.

"Are you okay?"

"Cold."

"I know," I lift up some other blankets around myself and then pull him into my arms, "But you’re going to warm up soon, and I’m going to stay with you until you feel all better."

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course. You wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Cause you’re my boy."

"I  _am_  your boy.”

I snicker and press another kiss to his cold lips.

"Michael sleepy?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I nod, the reminder makes me yawn, "I just carried your freezing ass through the woods, of course I’m tired."

"Can we sleep?"

"Yeah, we’re gonna sleep right here in front of the fire. All snuggled up and cozy so that you don’t get any more sick."

"Am I sick?"

"Yeah, I think so. Ryan’s going to come wake us up later and then he’ll take your temperature again."

"Okay," he nods, and then kisses my cheek, "I love you, Michael."

He cuddles more into me, desperate to be close and confirm my presence. I let out a sigh and hold him close, knowing that he’s just so pleased that he isn’t a danger to anybody anymore.

"I love you too, Gav."

*

Dealing with sick Gavin, is like dealing with a whiny uncontrollable child.

He spends his time sooking like a little brat and asking me to make him healthy again. He’ll cough all hours of the day, complain endlessly about how sore his throat is, sneeze and then panic until remembering that it’s normal.

The only thing keeping me sane is the fact that my presence does seem to comfort him a little. After spending two days straight with him in a bed where he has a nasty flu, I am hoping and begging that I will be sick after this. I’ll be able to convince Gavin to leave me the hell alone during it.

He spends a lot of time trying to sneak out of the house and go outside to play and I always have to tackle him to the ground to stop him. He’s also incredibly restless. Gavin’s spent his entire life outdoors and he’s not such a big fan of staying inside all day resting. He’s constantly kicking his legs, fidgeting, and moving around. Any time that isn’t spent taking care of him and comforting him, is spent wrestling to keep him inside and yelling at him to shut up.

I’m incredibly crabby by the time we reach Christmas Eve night. I try to keep his mind off the holiday as much as possible by asking him pointless questions and quizzing him on silly unimportant things. It seems to work but he still brings up the subject every few moments.

Christmas isn’t  _that_ big of a deal to me now that I’m an adult. As I child I used to get super pumped about the day and would spend the entire time bouncing around hyped up on sugar and chocolate.

Since everybody in Achievement City is a grown up, and we hadn’t even known each other when we were kids, we usually spend the day just dicking around and being morons. We do that almost everyday anyways. The only difference is that we’ll have a Christmas tree up and open dumb gifts.

We’ve never had a child in town before. Not that Gavin is a child, he’s just… very child-like at times. It’s his first Christmas and he was obviously very excited about it. I have to give thanks to the guys for not coming in for the entire day. I know if one of them came in to visit then Gavin would ask nonstop questions about if they’re doing anything or playing any fun games out there.

"Michael!" Gavin squeals as he shakes my shoulders violently, trying to wake me up even though I’m sure we’ve only gone to sleep a few hours ago.

I groan and try to swat him away, not willing to open my eyes right now. “You’re supposed to be sleeping, you’re sick.”

He repeats my name again, and when I peak an eye open I see that it’s still dark. The sun hasn’t even come up and he’s already trying to wake me up. For what? All we’ve been doing for the last few days is relaxing in bed because he isn’t allowed to get up and run around like he usually does.

"No! Get up!" he cries happily, and I have to hold back to urge to strangle him.

"Oh my god," I mutter, rubbing my eyes as I sit up from the bed, "What is-"

I’m stunned into silence when I see the colorful lights flashing across Gavin’s face. He’s no longer looking at me and is now staring out of the window, his eyes wide with awe and excitement.

I scrunch my eyebrows together in confusion and rub my eyes harder, wondering if I’m just seeing things. But his face still flashes a multitude of different bright colors.

It takes me a few moments to fully wake up and look out the window that’s directly above my bed to see what he’s staring at, and my eyes widen when I see a Christmas tree outside. A tall evergreen tree that’s decorated with a million tiny flickering lights and ornaments. There’s a yellow star resting on the top, shining brighter than any of the other lights.

"Whoa," Gavin murmurs, and it looks almost as though he’s hypnotized by it. I smirk as I watch his face, unmoving and entranced by the light show.

I’ve seen Christmas trees before. In fact, we always put up a tree in town to celebrate the holidays, but usually it’s in the middle of the town logo. Not outside of my bedroom window.

Gavin’s never seen one. It isn’t surprising considering that he’s never heard of snow or Christmas before, but it’s still incredibly amusing to watch how enthralled he is by it.

"That’s a Christmas tree," I explain softly, "They’re really pretty, huh?"

"Yeah," he nods, not taking his eyes away from the sight, "Pretty."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" a loud voice breaks through the sweet moment and somebody begins banging on the door.

Gavin’s eyes widen in surprise and he leans back against me a little more, slightly afraid of the noises.

"It’s Santa!" I grin, playing along with whatever the hell is happening right now.

The door is opened and Jack walks in with a large sack on his back. “Merry Christmas!” he yells out, “I’ve come bearing gifts!”

Gavin grins when he realizes who it is and recognizes a word, “Presents!?”

"Of course!" Jack laughs, "I’m Santa Claus!"

I try to hold back my laughter but it’s almost impossible. Gavin collapses into giggles as well and moves to get out of the bed but I pull him back. He’s still sick so I don’t want him running and jumping around.

"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays," we hear other voices call out as they storm into the room behind Jack.

"Do you like it, Gav?"

He’s bounces excitedly in place and begins spewing off things in creeper. Even if any of us spoke the language he’s speaking way to fast to understand. We’re all too amused to correct him and tell him to speak in English anyways.

After seeing him so depressed, sick, and sad for the past few days, it’s nice to see him so excited and happy again. It fills me with a fuzzy feeling that makes me want to pull him close and just smile for the rest of forever.

"You guys put up a Christmas tree? How long did that take?" I ask, knowing that we only went to sleep a few hours ago.

"Like two hours of everybody screaming at each other so we could have it up before Gavin saw," Ray says and sits onto the edge of the bed with us.

"Shut the hell up, you prick," Geoff exclaims, "You sat there and watched!"

"We needed a supervisor! Without me that tree would have looked like shit!"

"You went for a nap in the chair!"

"It’s two in the morning, what do you expect?"

"All of your fighting is ruining Gavin’s first Christmas," Ryan jokes and hands the boy a cup of hot cocoa.

"Ah!" he beams and drinks it greedily, still buzzing with excitement.

"We’re sorry that your Christmas got ruined because you got sick," Ryan says, "But we decided we would take the Christmas to you instead."

"I love it!" he grins and turns back to look at the tree outside the window, "It’s amazing."

"This is Gavin’s own special Christmas time," Jack says and pulls a present from the bag, "So only he gets to open his now. The rest of us are going to wait until tomorrow for Christmas morning."

Gavin’s eyes widen at the sight of the shiny wrapping paper and once it’s placed on his lap he hands me his cup of cocoa so that he can hug it to his chest.

"Thank you!" he cries out.

We all laugh, “That’s just the box, Gavin! The gift is inside.”

"How does it open?" he eagerly runs his eyes over every inch of it, and then shakes the present slightly as though that will get it out.

"Rip the paper off."

He spends an annoyingly long amount of time trying to tear it off as carefully as possible. Knowing him he’ll probably keep and cherish the wrapping paper as well.

When he finally gets it opened, I laugh out loud at his present.

It’s a new winter coat made to look like a creepers skin. Obviously the skin that actual creepers shed would not be enough to keep him warm during the colder months, so I’m assuming Ryan had to be a little more creative with it. But I must admit, it looks very accurate.

"Creepers!" Gavin yells and then slides his arms through the sleeves. We all laugh again when he snuggles the fabric as close to his face as possible.

"That isn’t all!" Jack says and digs out another gift from the bag, "One more."

It’s noticeably smaller but Gavin grabs it greedily and tears this one open as quickly as possible. I assume that once he’s realized how nice the presents inside are, the wrapping paper is nothing in comparison.

Inside is a plush doll version of a creeper. It looks like it was made from the same material as Gavin’s coat.

I remember Ryan making little dolls for us once as a joke before Gavin came around. They centered around characters that we loved from our childhood and mine happened to be Banjo Kazooie. I actually still have it in a chest somewhere, but I’d completely forgotten about Ryan’s doll making skills since this all happened over a year ago.

"It’s a little Gavin!" he cries out gleefully and hugs the tiny thing to his chest.

"A little  _creeper_ ,” Geoff corrects.

"Come on, Geoff, it’s Christmas," I say, watching Gavin fawn over his new coat and doll. He’s quite literally like a small child on Christmas. When we’d gotten our little dolls it was just a funny joke, but he genuinely loves it.

"No, no!" Gavin states, "It  _is_ a creeper. Gavin is  _not_ a creeper. Gavin is like Michael. And Geoff, and Ray, and Ryan, and Jack!”

I smile at his pride towards being one of us and laugh again when he snuggles the thing closer to him. “But it is still me,” he comments with a smug grin on his face.

"Merry Christmas, Creeper boy," I say to him and kiss his temple, just content to have him here with me. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Creeper Boyfriend [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2076297) by [Sandstripe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandstripe/pseuds/Sandstripe)




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